Experimenting with Foreign Wines: Ice Wine from Taiwan

Brett and I are both big wine drinkers (although you might question that from how far behind we are on posting wine related content on our blog, LOL), but we are not snobbish. We are always willing to give a wine a try and love exploring new and foreign wine regions. We were excited when we first learned that Taiwan had “wineries” which we quickly learned were more like soju and other hard liquors found throughout Asia. After 1 1/2 years, we have found a few local true wineries and obviously we want to give everything a try.

Last week, Brett was picking up something at the grocery that I managed to forget and came upstairs so excited that he found a Taiwan produced ice wine….for 200 NT (less than $10 US). For those unfamiliar with ice wine, the prices can be quite steep (we’ve paid over $100 US a bottle before). For ice wine to be produced, the grapes are grown in, well, frozen conditions! Taiwan is not recognized as an area that gets snow, but it does have a few high altitude areas that get snow capped mountains so there was a chance this might be a real diamond in the rough…or not.

Label on Taiwan Ice Wine

Tonight, we decided to open this “Taiwan Ice Wine” that was produced in Taoyuan County. We were instantly skeptical when Brett uncorked it to find the cork resembled a hunk of creamy blue cheese. On the nose, my first thoughts were rotten food and kimchi. One thing I’ve learned about living in Asia, things often taste much better than they smell so I tried to get past the vile smell emanating from the glass. The taste? I’d describe it as a sparkling fish sauce! The wine had a strong salty taste that I found completely disgusting. I don’t often find a wine I really dislike and this was the first that I just physically could not drink without my gag reflex kicking in!

Close up of Wine Label - Gotta Love the English Translation!

Back of Ice Wine Label

Brett was not as repulsed as I was. The first few sips, he found the wine to be “rancid, with a touch of putrid.” However, he continued to drink it — my guess is he wanted to find a reason to like it. And why not, it was only $10. LOL! After several more sips, he came to the conclusion there were some endearing qualities of concord grape flavor. These reminded him of his childhood and the grapes he would pick off the vines near his home in Connecticut. Even though he found that tiny bit of redemption, the wine still ended up going down our drain!

Fortunately, with prices like $10 we can afford to experiment and not feel as guilty dumping it down the drain. Perhaps I should have held on to it though – I could have tried it as a substitute for fish sauce in a few recipes!

Have you experimented with any unknown wines or lesser known wine regions? We’d love to hear the good (and the bad) so we know what to check out or be sure to avoid!

About Erin De Santiago

Erin is a freelance travel, food, wine, and Disney Theme Parks writer splitting time between the Netherlands and Belize. She has traveled to 60 countries in search of good food and wine, and all things Disney.